Community Directory

Silver Creek — Est. 1826

February 5, 2010

Silver Creek began as a small milling town when settlers Abel Cleveland, David Dickinson and John E. Howard arrived from Massachusetts with their families in 1803. More than 600 acres of land was purchased from the Holland Land Company and settled on present-day Lake Avenue.

Originally called Fayette, the name of the settlement was changed to Silver Creek in 1826.

The first official town meeting was held in 1814, and in June 1848, 47 of the 51 eligible residents voted to incorporate the village. Noah D. Snow became the first Silver Creek Village Board president.

The first Christian marriage took place in 1807, between Elizabeth Mack and Judge Richard Smith. The first physician settled in the area in 1811.

Oliver Lee built the first wharf and warehouse, and developed the harbor into an important port for Lake Erie commerce, and in 1816, Silver Creek’s famous shipyards launched their first ship. However, the arrival of the Buffalo and State Line Railroad in 1851 caused Silver Creek’s shipyards to fade into history.

The original school house, built in 1823, was believed to have stood on Main Street near where the Christian Science Church now stands. In 1958, the cornerstone of the present high school was laid.

The village’s first post office was established in 1825, the first bakery — opened by W.H. Stevens — in 1835 and the first library in 1839.

The first newspaper, The Silver Creek Mail, was published by John C. VanDuzer in 1848.

S. Howes Co., a business pivotal in the development of the village, opened in 1864. It was responsible for 80 percent of all the grain-cleaning machinery being manufactured for a time.

In 1921, firecrackers caused a fire which destroyed a large section of the village including the Methodist Church, the Park Avenue Hotel, the trolley station, the grandstand in the ballpark and other building on Main Street.